Vehicle bodies define body openings for providing access to a passenger compartment. Vehicle doors are typically mounted to the vehicle body via hinges and are pivotable between open and closed positions to selectively obstruct the body openings. Some prior art vehicles include only one door per vehicle side, i.e., “two-door” vehicles. Other prior art vehicles include two doors per vehicle side, i.e., a front door and a rear door.
A front door is typically mounted via hinges to a front hinge pillar such that the front door pivots about a vertical axis adjacent the forward end of the door. A rear door is typically mounted via hinges to a center pillar such that the rear door pivots about a vertical axis adjacent the forward end of the door. Some rear doors are pivotable about axes that are adjacent the rearward end of the door, such as the door described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,875, issued Feb. 20, 1996 to Siladke et al, assigned to the assignee of the present application, and which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Some vehicles, such as minivans and the like, may employ sliding rear doors that are guided by tracks for translation in a generally fore/aft direction between open and closed positions. An exemplary sliding rear door is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,257, issued Mar. 14, 2000 to Manuel, assigned to the assignee of the present application, and which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.